Nearly the end of Summer....

So Autumn is just around the corner, it's goodbye to August and hello September, with it's mists and mellow fruitfulness. It is such a lovely month, the shift in the seasons bringing about a showcase of colours in the hedgerows at the end of our lane.

Talking of showcases it's time for...

 .. Fabulous Folksy Friday Finds!

The letter 'P' is our inspiration for this weeks finds, don't forget to drop by all the shops their url's are under their photo's.

  'P' is for...

Pretty Poppies that never need watering

P is for Poppies - These pretty poppies would brighten up even the dullest corner. Jessica's Folksy shop is filled with ceramic loveliness, we especially like all her ceramic flower posies. Jessica is enjoying the limelight this week as she is the featured seller on Folksy, not surprised, her shop is a little gem.

https://folksy.com/shops/jessicacatherinecreates

Wish you were here?!

P is for Postcard - This postcard is actually a little cushion. We love that Kim offers the option to personalise it for a special occasion What a great idea, it would make a fabulous and original wedding or anniversary present.

https://folksy.com/shops/PolarMoon

Pretty in Pink

P is for Pink - A soft pink bowl made from Field Maple wood. Simply beautiful. Sarah's Folksy shop is brimming over with gorgeous, organically shaped wooden delights:

https://folksy.com/shops/InspiredToMake

Flower Power!

P is for Pendant - We've been following Tracy's blog for a while and are fascinated with her bold and beautiful jewellery. If you are looking for something new for your autumn capsule wardrobe you'd be wise to pop over to Tracy's Folksy shop:

https://folksy.com/shops/cinnamonjewellery




Back here we have at last got around to launching ourselves into the world of Twitter. Not too sure what to do but other online sellers seem to have success with getting themselves noticed by tweeting. So we are preening our feathers and practicing our warbling to be able to fit in with fellow tweeters! 


Our floral garden has given me an idea for a new print, don't think it's too difficult to see what has inspired me.

First colour plate ready for the press

As the night's start getting cooler it will soon be time to search out those 'woolly jumpers'..

Our smiling Dartmoor Grey Faced Sheep Print

We are taking a couple of hours off today to 'scrump' apples in our friends orchard. They are away at present and we are on watering duties. The bartering that has been negotiated means we can take their windfall apples and pick blackberries while we are there. So it will be a fruity crumble for pud on Saturday evening, can't wait...


Enjoy your weekend.


'In the book of life, the answers aren't in the back'.
Charlie Brown.

Tomatoes on Trial

The tomato harvest is in full swing here. All those months of anticipation have rewarded us with colanders heavy with ripe tomatoes. They will be eaten in salads, added to sauces and soups and be turned into chutney to be enjoyed later in the year.

As we have now had the opportunity to taste and compare all the varieties we grew this year we decided we would share our tomato trial which takes into account, looks, flavour and culinary uses. All scores are out of 10.

Stand up straight! - A motley line up of the fruity Orbs on trial

Smallest first...

The smallest tomato we grew was 'Sweet Aperitif'. A cherry type tomato which was one of the free plants we received from Gardeners' World magazine back in April. The single plant produced a good number of trusses of miniature toms which were the first to ripen. They were sweet, but not as flavoursome as expected. As they are so small they were perfect for picking straight from the vine, a quick rub on the sleeve and popped into the mouth while working in the garden.

Looks - Tiny, a handful sprinkled in a salad look cute.

Flavour - 6

Culinary use - salads

Will we be growing them again - no, there are better flavoured cherry tomatoes

Another cherry tomato and another magazine freebie. We've tried this variety before as our friends grow it and swear it's the sweetest tomato they've ever grown. We agree. The single plant gave lots of trusses, reached the roof of the greenhouse first and is still putting out trusses of fruit.

Looks - They are a golden yellow when ripe, (this photo doesn't capture it's sunny yellow colouring too well).

Flavour - 9

Culinary use - salads, they also look great in a mixed tomato salad.

Will we be growing them again - definitely!

This is meant to be a cherry style of tomato but ours did grow larger than the other cherry tomatoes. These were grown from seed and although there are 4 plants in the greenhouse their yield isn't much, all plants only putting out 4 trusses each.

Looks - It's shape and colour epitomises what a tomato is meant to look like.

Flavour - 7

Culinary use - salads, sliced in sandwiches, pizza topping.

Will we be growing them again - No, still looking for the best salad tomato.

Yet another freebie, (the magazine offer was for three tomato varieties). A mini plum which ripens to the oddest shade of pink, reminiscent of the deep pink shade of a wine gum. The single plant gave lots of fruit, with each truss heavy with tomatoes.

Looks - The colour isn't what you would expect in a tomato, it ripens to a deep pink, (again a difficult shade for the camera to capture).

Flavour - 6

Culinary use - salads

Will we be growing them again - No, found the colour really unappealing.

A plum style tomato. We have always grown plum tomatoes as we find them the most adaptable. They can be sliced and eaten in salads but are by far the best for cooking with. The usual variety of choice is San Marzano but this spring we just couldn't get our hands on a packet of these seeds. Instead the shops seemed to be pushing this Roma variety so we thought we'd give it a try. The plants have done really well, with lots of full trusses on every plant. The ripe fruits are large, firm tomatoes.

Looks - Large, deep red plum shaped tomatoes. Very dry when cut but the core is a little hard.

Flavour - 7

Culinary use - an all rounder, can be used in salads and cooking, the flesh breaks down into a tasty pulp when cooked.

Will we be growing them again - No, will stick with San Marzano, it's flavour and texture is wonderful.

A beefsteak style of tomato which can grow to mammoth proportions! We have grown this variety for a number of years and find them very adaptable. Grown from seed the greenhouse was planted with more of this variety than any other. The plants are still weighted down with full trusses, each truss averages around 5 fruits, giving a very good yield per plant. 

Now, not sure what went wrong with these. When we sited our secondhand greenhouse in early spring we took into account it's location and the amount of sun and shade it would receive. It has had lots of sun but the trellising meant to offer it some help with afternoon shade hasn't yet filled out with climbers and this might be where the problem lies. These fruits are large, tasty and ripen so they can be gently twisted off the truss but their cores are still very hard which is a shame as they need to be removed and we hate waste of any sort. Think it might have been they got too hot.

Looks - Large, fleshy tomato, one fruit can easily take the place of three normal salad tomatoes.

Flavour - 8

Culinary use - great for eveything.

Will we be growing them again - Yes

So that's our tomato thoughts, some favourites which will be grown again and an opportunity to flick through the seed catalogues searching for the elusive perfect 10 tomato...

Now must get back to some work in the Studio, I'm presently lino cutting snow drifts while Gary has another wading bird in his sights...

Enjoy your week.

'Gardening is cheaper than therapy and you get tomatoes!'

Anon.

Bank Holiday Weekend...

So it's the last bank holiday this weekend until December. Not being fond of sitting in traffic or milling through crowds of people we will be staying put and dividing our time between the garden and the Studio.

So before everyone else starts their long weekend it's time for...


 .. Fabulous Folksy Friday Finds!

The letter 'O' is our inspiration for this weeks finds, don't forget to drop by all the shops their url's are under their photo's.

  'O' is for...

These two will keep any eye on your books!

O is for - Owls, in the shape of these two fun bookends. Lynda's Folksy shop is filled with wooden creatures. We especially like the polar bear family, they would make wonderful Christmas decorations - there, we've done it, we've mentioned Christmas!
https://folksy.com/shops/kittiwakedesign

A tangy Orange bag

O is for - Orange. And what a splash of colour. There are lots of colourful felted items back in Claire's Folksy shop, even the raw materials to try your hand at the craft yourself.
https://folksy.com/shops/CreatedandFeltedbyClaireLouise

A striking swallow pendant

O is for - Origami. Katie takes the intricate folds of the art of Origami and transforms them into bold shaped pendants. More intricate designs back in Katie's Folksy shop:
https://folksy.com/shops/quietlycreative

Feel the need to plant something!

O is for - Oak. These traditional plant markers along with their hand turned dibber would put a smile on any gardener's face. Lots more garden themed must haves back in Chris's Folksy shop:

https://folksy.com/shops/WorksinWood





Back here we had a day away from the Studio yesterday.  In the early evening we found ourselves driving back home over the top of the Pennines. The sun broke through the clouds as we reached the summit, highlighting the rich warm purples of the heather which cloaks the top of the fells there. We both commented that we have never seen the humble moorland flower look so beautiful and this then started a debate as to whether we should stop and pick a sprig or two. After studying the nasty looking barbed wire topping all the fencing and feeling the opportunities to park safely at the side of the road were limited we decided it best to leave it to be admired from afar. 

I remember as a small child the fashion for people decorating their car front grills with a sprig of purple heather. I think it may have been tied there as both a good luck charm plus denoting that they had recently visited either the English Lake District or the Scottish Hills. It always made me feel a little special that so many people had a piece of 'me' on their cars.

All this talk of heather brings us around to my latest print offering, a linocut of the panoramic views seen from the Top of Gummer's How Fell overlooking Lake Windermere. One of our favourite short fell walks, which always rewards the walker with splendid views. I am please the colour blend of inks mixed for the heather in the foreground matches the real life colour.

A postcard sized view of the English Lake District.

Must share the sign we say in a vintage shop driving through York yesterday, most amusing...


'What if the Hokey Kokey IS what it's all about?


Enjoy your weekend.

Feeling Autumnal...

Don't really want to acknowledge it and can't bare to think that perhaps the nights really are drawing in. But having had to reach for a long sleeved top yesterday evening and feeling the necessity to switch the kitchen lights on while preparing supper, autumn is gently creeping nearer. 

The slight change in the temperature outdoors means I have had to admit defeat this year with the squashes. They sat in their pots for far to long waiting to be planted out. The irony is while waiting in their pots they flowered their socks off but alas once their roots were allowed to stretch out into soil they decided to protest by simply doing nothing. I do have some seed potatoes that have been patiently sitting in the kitchen waiting for a free bed so I may well plant them up in an attempt to get new potatoes for Christmas. The one common trait any gardener has to muster is optimism!

The floral garden is showing signs of running out of steam, although I continue to coax the annuals to keep on flowering. I have found that one of the joys of the summer has been deadheading. On fine mornings I have spent 10 minutes, secateurs in hand, nipping off the heads of faded blooms. The reward from those few minutes spent in quiet contemplation has been a flowery display that is still producing new buds which will hopefully take us to the first frosts. 

Calendula brightening up the flower beds - and salads

The courgettes are appearing in ever stranger concoctions, the most unappealing to date has to be the green flecks appearing in the chocolate muffins. But looks aren't everything and they taste delicious.

Chocolate can be good for you too!

It's been 6 months since I lost my Mum so suddenly. I can say with an honest heart that at times she let me down terribly, behaved dreadfully and made me hate her for her lack of thought. But she was my Mum and you only ever get one and I loved her.

Don't know how to describe how I feel, a sense of loss seems to sum up the emotion best. I hate Sundays just now as wherever I was in the World I always phoned her on a Sunday evening to tell her any news. I miss talking to her and find myself thinking, 'Oh, I must remember to tell Mum'. She was my sounding board and one of her good points was she never, ever gave an opinion but instead let you discover life for yourself. 

Baking at present makes me feel a little closer to her. I brought home from her house her battered, old Pyrex mixing bowl and a solitary Silver tablespoon. I remember the bowl saw regular kitchen service, with cake mixes and pudding batters being mixed in it. The tablespoon I have found holds just the right amount of raw muffin mix to fill the paper cases to the correct level. So I mix and I measure, holding conversations in my head with my Mum.

Pyrex bowl filled with memories

Of the many regrets that only reveal themselves when it's too late to make amends is that of not asking questions. I have the old cushion cover Mum kept all the family photo's in. And there are a great deal of them that I have no clue who is looking out of the photograph. They will remain a mystery as Mum was the last person who knew and could tell their secrets... it doesn't stop me wondering who they might be.

Distant relatives enjoy a day by the sea

The week ahead will see us standing over the printing press once again. I am working up another floral print while Gary is going to pull on his wellies and visit the farmyard for inspiration.


The winter landscape that has kept him occupied for the last few weeks is now finished. It captures the haunting beauty of a winter sunset in the English Lake District perfectly.

Winter Sunset on Lake Windermere

Enjoy your week.


'Keep a green tree in your heart and perhaps a singing bird will come'.
Chinese Proverb.

Super Moon...

The sight of the super moon illuminating the night sky this week took our breath away with it's luminosity.

Gary tried to capture it through the camera lens but it really deserved to be seen standing outside, looking up at the night sky and marveling at it's humbling beauty.

So Friday rolls around once again and it's
time for..



.. Fabulous Folksy Friday Finds!

This week it's the turn of the letter 'N' to provide us with our fabulous finds. The shops behind the items are all purveyors of lovely wares so do find time to drop by all the shops, their url's are under their photo's.

  'N' is for...

These would finish off any dinner table setting

N is for Napkins - these are found in Charlotte's pretty Folksy shop which is brimming over with jolly home wares. I have my eye on one of her fabric covered notebooks, it would make a great garden journal:
https://folksy.com/shops/CharlotteMaceyTextiles

Pass me a butter knife!

N is for Nutella - such a fun plate, it would make that breakfast slice of toast extra special! Chloe has lots of decorated ceramics in her Folksy shop including some rather handsome pet bowls: 
https://folksy.com/shops/littlec

Tweet home for rent

N is for Nesting box - any birds looking for a new pad would surely feel very cosy in this stylish bird box. And a brilliant shop name from Pete and Phill - 'Skiprat Creations' - turns one person's junk into another person's treasure!
https://folksy.com/shops/skipratcreations

A necklace with tooty fruity zing!

N is for Necklace - such fruity, tropical coloured buttons decorate this fun summery necklace. Lynn has buttony necklaces in a kaleidoscope of colours to suit every season back in her Folksy shop:
https://folksy.com/shops/erkinwald



Back here the garden harvest is in full swing with the tomato glut fast approaching. Have been pouring over recipe books for courgette recipes, more on these coming up in Monday's blog post.

In the Studio we have spent a couple of days printing so we are slowly disappearing under a mountain of prints pegged up to dry!  Gary still has at least 3 more colour plates to cut for his new landscape, it is looking beautiful even at this stage in it's development.
My two very different landscape prints are now ready for photographing so will hopefully be appearing online very soon. And Gary has found time to complete the dog breed requested last week, a friendly faced Pembroke Corgi. He's nosing his way into our shops this weekend.

Hot Dog - hot off the press!

We lost a bright light in the world of comedy this week with the sad passing of Robin Williams. We both loved his madness and remember as kids being entertained by him in the TV show 'Mork and Mindy'. We did once catch a glimpse of him sitting in the back of the US Postal team car following Lance Armstrong in the Tour de France.

Hope he has found his peace.


'You're only given a little spark of madness. You mustn't lose it'.
Robin Williams.


Nanu, Nanu.

No need to water...

So as predicted the tail end of Hurricane Bertha visited our shores and the rain came down in stair rods. Knowing that Sunday was going to see the worst of the rain, we thought we'd better try and sort out the problem of the volume of water that makes it's way down our soak away from the house and tends to flood the end of the garden. So on Saturday Gary built a stand for the large water barrel we'd bought off Ebay. He positioned it next to the gutter down pipe, connected it and then we waited. With the first spots of rain we rushed out to see if it was working, we could hear the water running into the barrel, success, and a job ticked off the 'to do' list. Sunday morning the heavens really opened and within half an hour the water barrel was overflowing! So it's back to the drawing board, but not until this rain stops...

At least the wet weather means I don't have to water all the seeds I've planted up. The shallots were lifted on Saturday and their space has been taken with a bed of Autumn/Winter salad leaves, these include lambs lettuce, land cress, mizuna and mustard leaves as well as some winter hardy lettuces.

The courgette plants are working hard and it would seem I only have to turn my back for a second and there's another couple of them ready for harvesting. This has meant that this week I could make the first courgette and cheese bread of the year. It is a simple white bread recipe with the addition of a couple of grated courgettes and a cup of cheddar cheese mixed in. The glorious mixture makes a moist dough bursting with a deep, savoury flavour. It makes great toast too, especially with a few slices of homegrown beefsteak tomatoes on top.

Delicious courgette loaves with a sprinkle of cheese for decoration

The thunder storms we've been having recently are not appreciated at all by our cats. At the first clap of thunder they are off to their hiding places to sit the storm out. We lost our little tabby somewhere in the house on Wednesday. We both searched for her, checked in all her usual bolt holes but no cat. It was Gary who eventually spied her sleeping off the storm, curled up on the wicker picnic basket which sits on top of the dining room dresser.

Spot the cat....

Work in the Studio has been all photography and computer work this week. We needed new shots of some of our work for the latest online shop we've recently started selling with. Finished them all on Friday so it's now back to creating more artworks. One of my landscapes is taking forever to complete.We decided to try out some new inks, which are vegetable oil based and they are taking days to dry sufficiently to be able to overprint the next colour plate. Goodness knows how long it will take before we can upload the finished prints into our shops for sale!

The green ink plate ready for printing

Gary has had a request for a dog breed print so he is busy cutting lino for it. New cute pooch should be in our shops in the next few days.

Enjoy your week, be it sunshine or showers...

'Life is a shipwreck but we must not forget to sing in the lifeboats'.

Voltaire.

At last the weekend...

It feels like we haven't even stopped to draw breath this week and the thought of the weekend makes us sigh with relief. We might just find a little time to escape the Studio and see what's happening in the garden, no doubt the lawn will be up to our knees!

Before we start winding down we need to get on with..


 .. Fabulous Folksy Friday Finds!

We are now half way through the alphabet so it's the letter 'M' which lead us to our fabulous shop finds this week, don't forget to drop by all the shops their url's are under their photo's.

  'M' is for...

Two for Joy

M is for Magpie -  So much attention to detail makes this brass etched cuff bracelet a real statement jewellery piece. Anna's Folksy shop has lots of lovely original pieces, especially like the medieval flavour that flows through it:
https://folksy.com/shops/AnnaMcDadeJewellery

Shhhh.... someone is sleeping

M is for Mouse - So firstly we just love this shop name - Mrs Plops Shoppe - which can't but raise a smile. Secondly the little mice you'll find hiding there will make you smile again, lovely work, all found in Catherine's Folksy Shop:
https://folksy.com/shops/mrsplopsshoppe

Fun Copper Fungi growing in a pot

M is for Mushroom - have to admit here that these are on my Christmas list. Allie and Mick's Folksy Shop has a selection of Copper garden ornaments which would look equally good in a pot on a windowsill, (now that's just made me think I'd like two sets of these fun fungi!):
https://folksy.com/shops/windswept

Ceramic Moth in search of a flame...

M is for Moth - this is one Moth I'd let flutter around the house. Richard's Folksy Shop is a witty, eclectic mix of items, so diverse you just need to see it for yourself!
https://folksy.com/shops/RichardLovatt




Back here in the Studio we were delighted earlier in the week to be invited to sell in a new online shop. It's the new Country Living 'General Store' which has been recently launched by Country Living Magazine. Gary's 'Hare in the Barley' is proving popular and getting lots of views. Hoping it means more people get to see our work and hopefully add it to their Christmas wish lists.

Hare in the Barley - now available in the Country Living 'General Store'

Yesterday evening while picking some salad leaves for supper I spied some ripe strawberries ready for eating. We have some late variety Strawberries just coming into their own which we planted in the strawberry table earlier in the summer. At about the same time whilst we were moving the York flags from the old seating area to our newly built arbor we discovered some wild strawberry plants hiding under the trees at the bottom of the garden. I potted them up and they have been happily sitting on the patio basking in the sunshine. It made us laugh to see the size variation between the two varieties. The delicate wild ones win hands down in both the perfume and taste department.

Wild Strawberries always remind us of the time we toured through France looking to purchase our home there. As we cycled and walked through the many quiet country lanes of rural France we came across numerous banks cloaked in drifts of wild strawberries. Whenever we spotted the tiny berries we would stop and sample the warm fruits, made even more delicious by being savoured in the outdoors with just us two and the odd bird for company, such joyous memories...

Wild and tiny versus big and juicy

This week we will be catching up with the more fun creative side of life and printing the next colour plate on both of our landscape prints. Plus we need to think about siting our water barrels, especially with how the weather is predicted to perform in the next seven days!


Enjoy your weekend.


'We cannot direct the wind but we can adjust the sails.'
Anon

4th August 1914

One hundred years ago today Britain declared war with Germany.

Between August 1914 and November 1918 there where very few families who didn't lose a relative to the war. Some towns and villages lost all of their male members of fighting age, leaving only the elderly, women and children behind to carry on.

This is how the war touched my family.

From what I was told by my Mum, on her paternal side of the family my grandfather's family were an industrious lot. They were Yorkshire folk who lived in the outskirts of Leeds and had prospered sufficiently to consider themselves rising up the class system. So much so they wanted to chart their good fortune by indulging in the new fashion of having family portraits taken by professional photographers. They would dress up in their Sunday best and sit or stand in stiff poses while their images were captured through the lens of the camera.

The Watt family consisted of Ma and Pa and their five daughters, Rosa, Lydia, Anne, Fanny Elizabeth and Tilly, plus their three sons, Jack, Alfred and Oswald. Most of the daughters worked as seamstresses but the youngest daughter, Tilly, took a very different route by running away with the circus where she took to the skies as a rope walker. (Her story is one to be told on another day). The boys all wanted to become engineers like their father. At the outbreak of the first world war Jack would have been just fifteen and like lots of other boys his age the thought of going off to fight seemed exciting. To wear a uniform and travel to the Continent was the stuff dreams were made of, to be a hero and make your family proud was a very tantalizing prospect. So much so that one morning Jack walked out of the door, went down to the recruiting office, lied about his true age and signed away his life. Like many others he didn't return, his mother received the dreaded telegram telling her he was missing in action. They never knew where he fell, only that he was a boy of seventeen when he died. 

Today I cannot imagine just how my Great, great, grandmother coped with such news. All her children survived birth and childhood illnesses but she outlived three of them. Jack, then Tilly, who fell to her death from the high wire and lastly Lydia who having held pins in her mouth for years as she stitched contracted blood poisoning through her tongue and died in her early twenties.

But today it is Jack I wish to remember, along with all those other brave souls who lost their lives to the war. 

The Watt family - minus Tilly

Jack Watt - aged 14yrs

The government asked for 100,000 volunteers to join the army once war was declared, over 750,000 came forward in the first month.

There is no definitive list for the numbers of people lost to the first world war but this is the generally accepted volume of losses.

65 million fought.

8 million soldiers killed in battle.

2 million died of illness or disease.

21.2 million wounded.

7.8 taken prisoner or missing in action.

6.6 million civilians killed.

In Flanders Fields

In Flanders fields the poppies blow

Between the crosses, row on row,

That mark our place: and in the sky

The larks, still bravely singing, fly

Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago

We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,

Loved and were loved, and now we lie

In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:

To you from failing hands we throw

The torch; be yours to hold it high.

If ye break faith with us who die

We shall not sleep, though the poppies grow

In Flanders fields.

John McCrae

First of the Month

These Fridays seem to be on speed dial the way in which they keep rushing around on us. And it's White rabbits all round as it's also the 1st of August.

All this means it's again time for..

 .. Fabulous Folksy Friday Finds!

The letter 'L' has helped us to find special items for this week and simply styled, neutral elegance seems to be the order of the day. A look around all the featured shops is heartily recommended as they all have gorgeous items waiting to be admired, their shop url's are under their photo's.

  'L' is for...

Tea or Coffee?

L is for Leaf - Every mug needs a coaster and these are so decorative they would look great simply adorning a table top. Charlotte has a talent for ceramics and her shop has lots of useful and beautiful items for homes and gardens alike: https://folksy.com/shops/CharlotteHupfieldCeramics

Like something Jane Eyre would have in her sewing box

L is for Lace - This pincushion is one you can make yourself as Lorna sells the kit for you to create your very own. There's lots more sewing challenges back at Lorna's Folksy shop: https://folksy.com/shops/Lornabatemanembroidery

Such a sweet scented package

L is for Lavender - These pretty in pink lavender bags are almost too gorgeous to hide away in a drawer. Gillian's Folksy shop is awash with vibrant fabrics stitched in to loveliness! https://folksy.com/shops/MadePrettyAccessories

For your favourite chair

L is for Linen - This linen cushion has such understated elegance to it, love the neutral tones and can imagine it looking good in every room. Lots more cushions to fall into in Cher's Folksy Shop: https://folksy.com/shops/Nutmegandsage

Here in our studio we've had a tidy up, not that it ever stays that way for very long. We always have to remember to leave one of the top shelves clear for the cats to have a perch on high to be able to check up on what we are up to. Although this week they had other entertainment to keep them occupied. Last Monday we found them hunkered around the wood stove, one sat on top, (which they know is never allowed), and the other sat on the hearth flags gazing into the glass door. As Gary had set it with paper and kindling ready for our next fire we couldn't see anything. But once a torch was flashed into the stove we could see what all the fuss was about, a sparrow had dropped down the chimney and must have been petrified as two pairs of cats eyes followed it's every flutter. Gary set about catching it once the cats had been banished to another room. It took him 45 minutes to catch the bird with a great deal of Anglo Saxon language colouring the air! Would you believe it but the very next day the same thing happened and who knows it could have been the same bird. This time it made a quick getaway as Gary directed it to the open window and it flew straight out... wouldn't mind but when we had the stove fitted we had asked for a bird guard and the fitters said the cowl they had used would be sufficient!

One of Gary's dog prints has been causing lots of interest this week as the Pinterest board I had made for the Folksy front page has been featured in their weekly newsletter. So our Shnauzer is feeling like the 'top dog' just now.

He's liking all the attention

This weekend we'll be back in the Studio and hopefully the new ink will have dried sufficiently for me to print the next colour on my landscape reduction linocut. Gary, with his tidy desk, will be cutting a print to add to our farmyard collection. 

Enjoy your weekend.

'When all else fails, read the instructions.'

Anon